202 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
202 lines
10 KiB
Markdown
**Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin** (30th of May 1814 - 1st of July 1876)
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was one of the most influential figures in the history and development
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of [anarchism](anarchism "wikilink"), so much so that he is sometimes
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referred to as the 'father of anarchism'. He is credited with linking
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the anarchist movement to [feminism](feminism "wikilink"),
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[atheism](atheism "wikilink"), [revolution](revolution "wikilink") and
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the introduction of
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[anarcho-collectivism](Anarcho-Collectivism "wikilink").
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## Quotes
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"FREEDOM, the realization of freedom: who can deny that this is what
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today heads the agenda of history? We must not only act politically, but
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in our politics act religiously, religiously in the sense of freedom, of
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which the one true expression is justice and love."\[1\]
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"The passion for destruction is a creative passion, too\!" (often
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paraphrased as "The urge to destroy is a creative urge".\[2\]
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"Unity is the great goal toward which humanity moves irresistibly. But
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it becomes fatal, destructive of the intelligence, the dignity, the
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well-being of individuals and peoples whenever it is formed without
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regard to liberty, either by violent means or under the authority of any
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theological, metaphysical, political, or even economic idea. That
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patriotism which tends toward unity without regard to liberty is an evil
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patriotism, always disastrous to the popular and real interests of the
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country it claims to exalt and serve. Often, without wishing to be so,
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it is a friend of reaction – an enemy of the revolution, i.e., the
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emancipation of nations and men."\[3\]
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"Liberty is so great a magician, endowed with so marvelous a power of
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productivity, that under the inspiration of this spirit alone, North
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America was able within less than a century to equal, and even surpass,
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the civilization of Europe."\[4\]
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"We are convinced that liberty without socialism is privilege and
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injustice; and that socialism without liberty is slavery and
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brutality."\[5\]
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"Political Freedom without economic equality is a pretense, a fraud, a
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lie; and the workers want no lying."\[6\]
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"I am a fanatic lover of liberty, considering it as the unique condition
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under which intelligence, dignity and human happiness can develop and
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grow; not the purely formal liberty conceded, measured out and regulated
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by the State, an eternal lie which in reality represents nothing more
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than the privilege of some founded on the slavery of the rest; not the
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individualistic, egoistic, shabby, and fictitious liberty extolled by
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the School of [J.-J. Rousseau](Jean-Jacques_Rosseau "wikilink") and
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other schools of bourgeois liberalism, which considers the would-be
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rights of all men, represented by the State which limits the rights of
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each — an idea that leads inevitably to the reduction of the rights of
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each to zero. No, I mean the only kind of liberty that is worthy of the
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name, liberty that consists in the full development of all the material,
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intellectual and moral powers that are latent in each person; liberty
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that recognizes no restrictions other than those determined by the laws
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of our own individual nature, which cannot properly be regarded as
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restrictions since these laws are not imposed by any outside legislator
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beside or above us, but are immanent and inherent, forming the very
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basis of our material, intellectual and moral being — they do not limit
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us but are the real and immediate conditions of our freedom."\[7\]
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"To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the
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foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of
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an animal can be measured by the intensity of its instinct to
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revolt."\[8\]
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"Revolution requires extensive and widespread destruction, a fecund and
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renovating destruction, since in this way and only this way are new
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worlds born."\[9\]
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"Freedom is the absolute right of every human being to seek no other
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sanction for his actions but his own conscience, to determine these
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actions solely by his own will, and consequently to owe his first
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responsibility to himself alone."\[10\]
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"If there is a State, there must be domination of one class by another
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and, as a result, slavery; the State without slavery is unthinkable –
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and this is why we are the enemies of the State."\[11\]
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"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much
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happier if it is called 'the People's Stick.'"\[12\]
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"The modern State is by its very nature a military State; and every
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military State must of necessity become a conquering, invasive State; to
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survive it must conquer or be conquered, for the simple reason that
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accumulated military power will suffocate if it does not find an outlet.
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Therefore the modern State must strive to be a huge and powerful State:
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this is the indispensable precondition for its survival."\[13\]
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"We wish, in a word, equality — equality in fact as a corollary, or
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rather, as primordial condition of liberty. From each according to their
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faculties, to each according to their needs; that is what we wish
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sincerely and energetically."\[14\]
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"No theory, no ready-made system, no book that has ever been written
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will save the world. I cleave to no system. I am a true seeker."\[15\]
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"I hate Communism because it is the negation of liberty and because
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humanity is for me unthinkable without liberty. I am not a Communist,
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because Communism concentrates and swallows up in itself for the benefit
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of the State all the forces of society, because it inevitably leads to
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the concentration of property in the hands of the State, whereas I want
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the abolition of the State, the final eradication of the principle of
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authority and the patronage proper to the State, which under the pretext
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of moralizing and civilizing men has hitherto only enslaved, persecuted,
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exploited and corrupted them. I want to see society and collective or
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social property organized from below upwards, by way of free
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association, not from above downwards, by means of any kind of authority
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whatsoever."\[16\]
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"All exercise of authority perverts, and submission to authority
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humiliates."\[17\]
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"Every state, like every theology, assumes man to be fundamentally bad
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and wicked."\[18\]
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"Even the most wretched individual of our present society could not
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exist and develop without the cumulative social efforts of countless
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generations. Thus the individual, his freedom and reason, are the
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products of society, and not vice versa: society is not the product of
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individuals comprising it; and the higher, the more fully the individual
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is developed, the greater his freedom — and the more he is the product
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of society, the more does he receive from society and the greater his
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debt to it."\[19\]
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"By striving to do the impossible, man has always achieved what is
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possible. Those who have cautiously done no more than they believed
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possible have never taken a single step forward."\[20\]
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"The peoples' revolution will arrange its revolutionary organisation
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from the bottom up and from the periphery to the centre, in keeping with
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the principle of liberty."\[21\]
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"I am truly free only when all human beings, men and women, are equally
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free. The freedom of other men, far from negating or limiting my
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freedom, is, on the contrary, its necessary premise and
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confirmation."\[22\]
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"The materialistic, realistic, and collectivist conception of freedom,
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as opposed to the idealistic, is this: Man becomes conscious of himself
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and his humanity only in society and only by the collective action of
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the whole society. He frees himself from the yoke of external nature
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only by collective and social labor, which alone can transform the earth
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into an abode favorable to the development of humanity. Without such
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material emancipation the intellectual and moral emancipation of the
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individual is impossible. He can emancipate himself from the yoke of his
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own nature, i.e. subordinate his instincts and the movements of his body
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to the conscious direction of his mind, the development of which is
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fostered only by education and training. But education and training are
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preeminently and exclusively social hence the isolated individual cannot
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possibly become conscious of his freedom. To be free means to be
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acknowledged and treated as such by all his fellowmen. The liberty of
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every individual is only the reflection of his own humanity, or his
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human right through the conscience of all free men, his brothers and his
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equals. I can feel free only in the presence of and in relationship with
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other men. In the presence of an inferior species of animal I am neither
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free nor a man, because this animal is incapable of conceiving and
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consequently recognizing my humanity. I am not myself free or human
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until or unless I recognize the freedom and humanity of all my
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fellowmen. Only in respecting their human character do I respect my
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own."\[23\]
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-
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## References
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<references />
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1. Mikhail Bakunin (1842) The Reaction in Germany
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[www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1842/reaction-germany.htm](https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1842/reaction-germany.htm)
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- He wrote under the fake name Jules Elysard.
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2.
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3. Mikhail Bakunin (1867) Federalism, Socialism and Anti-Theologism -
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<https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/various/reasons-of-state.htm>
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4.
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5.
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6. Mikhail Bakunin (1870) The Red Association -
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<https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/writings/ch05.htm>
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7. Mikhail Bakunin (1871) The Paris Commune and the idea of the state -
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<http://libcom.org/library/paris-commune-mikhail-bakunin>
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8. Mikhail Bakunin (1872) On the International Workingmen's Association
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and Karl Marx -
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<https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/bakunin/works/1872/karl-marx.htm>
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9. Mikhail Bakunin (1873) [Statism and
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Anarchy](Statism_and_Anarchy "wikilink") -
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<https://libcom.org/library/statism-anarchy-mikhail-bakunin>
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10. [Daniel Guérin](Daniel_Guérin "wikilink") (1970) [Anarchism: From
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Theory to Practice](Anarchism:_From_Theory_to_Practice "wikilink")
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11.
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12.
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13.
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14. J. Morris Davidson (1890) The Old Order and the New
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15. E.H. Carr (1937) Michael Bakunin, page 175
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16. E.H. Carr (1937) Michael Bakunin, page 356
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17. E.H. Carr (1937) Michael Bakunin, page 453
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18.
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19. G. P. Maximoff (1953) The Philosophy of Bakunin, page 158
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20. Paolo Novaresio (1996) The Explorers
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21. Mikhail Bakunin (1868) *Program and Object of the Secret
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Revolutionary Organisation of the International Brotherhood*
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22. Mikhail Bakunin (1871) Man, Society, and Freedom
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23. |